Pew: Per-inmate health care costs decline in Maine

AUGSTA, Maine (AP) — A Pew Charitable Trusts report says that health care spending per prison inmate in Maine declined over seven years while many states saw those costs grow.

The report released Tuesday says that Maine's spending dropped 13 percent from $7,762 per inmate in 2001 to $6,740 per inmate in 2008.

Overall correctional health care sending in 42 of the 44 states examined grew by an average of 52 percent. It attributes the growth in spending in part to the rise in prison populations throughout the country.

The report says states can reduce costs by expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act, which Maine has declined to do.

Health care in prisons wouldn't be covered but the state could get reimbursed for treatment provided to prisoners at hospitals.